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Aric Almirola, who entered Sunday winless and 27th in points, now has a seat at the NASCAR Cup Series playoff table.
The Stewart-Haas Racing driver stood up to Christopher Bell to win Sunday’s race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, which finished eight laps from the planned distance of 301 laps due to oncoming darkness.
MORE: New Hampshire Cup Race Results, Drivers Points
With his first Cup victory away from a superspeedway, Almirola ended a 98-race winless streak.
It also shocked the playoff landscape as NASCAR enters a two-week hiatus for the Tokyo Olympics.
His victory propelled Tyler Reddick to 16th and final position in the playoffs. Reddick holds the position with just five points ahead of Richard Childress Racing teammate Austin Dillon.
But most important of all, Almirola turned the tide of what had been one of his worst Cup seasons to date.
“… We’ve been through so much, and I just passed the test and keep the faith,” Almirola told NBC Sports. “The team, everyone worked so hard. … My refueling team did a phenomenal job on the pit lane. All the guys that work on this car, they keep fighting, they keep digging, bringing the best racing car they can bring every week.
“And there’s no doubt we struggled, but guess what? We’re going to run in the playoffs.
A thrilling race on the “Magic Mile” on Sunday started in a chaotic fashion. Six laps into the race, rain hit the track and led to a multi-car incident for Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Kyle Busch, Martin Truex Jr. and Denny Hamlin.
Busch and Truex, who were running first and second at the time, both spun into the wall at Turn 1. Hamlin, chasing fifth place, also spun but dodged the wall and continued.
Busch was eliminated in the accident. Hamlin finished 10th. Truex Jr. recovered 12th place with a damaged car.
With the extended stop bringing darkness into play, NASCAR announced after the completion of Stage 2 that the race would continue “until conditions dictate otherwise” and if the race were to be shortened, officials would announce 10 laps to go to the checkered flag without overtime.
This announcement was finally made on lap 282 with Almirola leading Bell. In the final 10-lap race, Almirola had to maneuver through doubled traffic – even leading Dillon to the race track with six laps to go – in order to stay ahead.
Team Penske’s trio of Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano and Ryan Blaney finished third, fourth and fifth respectively.
WINNER OF STEP 1: Ryan blaney
WINNER OF STEP 2: Brad Keselowski
WHO HAD A GOOD RACE: Logano’s fourth place came after receiving a two-lap penalty. Logano was penalized after a crew member from Team Penske removed debris from the linkage of Logano’s # 2 Ford during the red flag. Team No. 2 crew chief Paul Wolfe told NBC Sports that debris kept Logano from running at full throttle during the first few laps and the repair needed to be done.
WHO HAD A BAD RUN: Kyle Busch finished last in the 37-car field after his mishap with Mother Nature. The setback ends a four-race top-three ranking streak that included a victory in the second race at Pocono.
NOTABLE: Kyle Larson led the Hendrick Motorsports team with a seventh place finish. Sunday marked the first race without a Hendrick driver in the top five since the Bristol Dirt race in March.
FOLLOWING: Sunday, August 8 – Watkins Glen International (3 p.m. ET, NBCSN)
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